1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flexible circuit board connector, and particularly to a terminal which is configured to be securely mounted in a connector having a thin-type structure so as to prevent the terminal from being coming off a dielectric house and therefore provide a stable transmission of electronic signals or data.
2. Related Art
A conventional connector for a flexible circuit board includes multiple terminals mounted in a dielectric housing. Each terminal has a first contact arm and a second contact arm for clamping the flexible circuit board, a driving arm and a soldering arm respectively connecting the first and second contact arms at ends thereof, and a support arm disposed among and connecting with the first and second contact arms and the driving and soldering arms, wherein the first and second arms and the support arm cooperatively form a clamping opening. The driving arm is disposed at a rear portion of the connector and is capable of being driven by a pressing element rotatably supported by the connector so as to tilt the first contact towards the second contact arm such that the first contact arm and the driving arm are operated as a lever, whereby the first and second contact arms narrow the clamping opening in order to clamp the flexible circuit board therebetween.
The terminals are mounted in the dielectric housing with the first and second contact arms in contact with an interfering element of the dielectric housing in order to prevent disengagement from the dielectric housing. The interfering element is located with respect to the clamping opening and on the way where the flexible circuit board is being inserted. As a result, the overall thickness of the dielectric housing has to be increased to allow the insertion of the flexible circuit board. However, a connector of large thickness does not keep up with the trend toward thin-type structure for most applied electronic products. Although the terminals can be produced and assembled with the connector through the insert molding technology, the cost for insert molding is rather high and the manufacturing process thereof is limited as well. Hence it is imperative to improve the structure of the connector for a flexible circuit board to meet the requirements for thin-type assembly.